Moorcroft, Fred, Lance Sergeant, 240602, 1st/6th Bn, Notts & Derby Regiment
Born Tissington, Derbyshire
Enlisted Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Resided Parwich, Derbyshire
Killed in action France & Flanders 3rd January 1918 aged 22
Son of Thomas and Ellen Moorcroft, of Bank House, Parwich, Ashbourne
Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, III, B, 2
1911 Census
Fred Moorcroft was a 15 year old market gardener's labourer, residing in Parwich. He was the son of Thomas Moorcroft, a market gardener's labourer, and Ellen Moorcroft.
Ashbourne News, 25th January 1918
Fred Moorcroft was killed in action during a German raid. The Germans commenced by heavily shelling the British positions, before attacking towards the left of the lines. Fred was a Lewis Gunner, and was helping to repulse the enemy, when a trench mortar shell landed in the trench nearby, burying him and another man. Both were ‘killed instantly by the concussion and fallen earth’. According to Lieutenant Briggs, his commanding officer, he was due to go on leave the day prior to the attack, but because his mother was ill in hospital, he decided that he would go at another time when she was well again.
He enlisted in October, 1914, and had served in France for two and a half years. He trained at Buxton, Luton and Epping, and ‘passed as a Lewis Gunner with considerable credit’. The Ashbourne News of 28th July 1916 mentions that for two years prior to his enlistment, Fred was in the employ of Mr. Clews of Fenny Bentley.
Moorcroft, Fred, Lance Sergeant, 240602, 1st/6th Bn, Notts & Derby Regiment
Born Tissington, Derbyshire
Enlisted Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Resided Parwich, Derbyshire
Killed in action France & Flanders 3rd January 1918 aged 22
Son of Thomas and Ellen Moorcroft, of Bank House, Parwich, Ashbourne
Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, III, B, 2
1911 Census
Fred Moorcroft was a 15 year old market gardener's labourer, residing in Parwich. He was the son of Thomas Moorcroft, a market gardener's labourer, and Ellen Moorcroft.
Ashbourne News, 25th January 1918
Fred Moorcroft was killed in action during a German raid. The Germans commenced by heavily shelling the British positions, before attacking towards the left of the lines. Fred was a Lewis Gunner, and was helping to repulse the enemy, when a trench mortar shell landed in the trench nearby, burying him and another man. Both were ‘killed instantly by the concussion and fallen earth’. According to Lieutenant Briggs, his commanding officer, he was due to go on leave the day prior to the attack, but because his mother was ill in hospital, he decided that he would go at another time when she was well again.
He enlisted in October, 1914, and had served in France for two and a half years. He trained at Buxton, Luton and Epping, and ‘passed as a Lewis Gunner with considerable credit’. The Ashbourne News of 28th July 1916 mentions that for two years prior to his enlistment, Fred was in the employ of Mr. Clews of Fenny Bentley.
Fenny Bentley
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